Wednesday, June 28, 2006

No Time for Details

Just a few minutes on scales, inversions, and arps. I'm playing them faster, so I'm actually able to play more per day and not feel like I'm spending all my time on technical exercises.

About 30 minutes on the Bach Prelude. As I've mentioned before, I'm not really "supposed" to be starting on it. However, the Fugue and Standchen are both so hairy ... it's nice to have an easy ("easy" being a relative term) piece to warm up on. I've also been reviving some of the 2- and 3-part inventions that I've learned in the past as ways of warming up my hands and mind before diving into the harder stuff.

About 30 minutes on the Fugue. I've spend a lot of time lately on Liszt, so I'm planning a nice, long date with the Fugue later this week, probably tomorrow or Friday. I have the entire thing hand-separately, but it's not very polished sounding. I'm going to keep working hands-separately until my next lesson, which is a week from today.

Almost two lovely hours on Liszt. I now have the section with the 9-against-4 triplets all the way through the end. I'm not to tempo yet, but I'm gotten beyond my usual creeping pace, and it's really sounding lovely (if I may say so myself--but it's Liszt, not me (not I?), who makes it sound that way).

Tomorrow I'll start learning Sections 6 through 8, which is where the melody is played in the bass. The pulsing, accompanying chords are played in the bass, too, which means lots of handwiching. (A handwich is where the hands are practically on top of each other, both playing different things.)

No time to write more. Frustrating because I have so very much to write!

1 comment:

I wouldn't think in terms of a creeping pace, Waterfall. After all, it was Rachmaninoff who was the big exponent of slow practice, he of the enormous hands and technique that wouldn't wait. Besides, at the end of the day, it's much easier to play loud and fast than quietly and slowly!

Consider my octave-spread idea for making the fugue less hairy.

I've recently tried varying the practice lineup. After the technical beginning, it's all too easy to just go chronologically. But now -- sometimes I start with JSB, sometimes with Chopin, sometimes with Mendelssohn. The analogy is purely physical exercise. The physical body responds best to exercise when it's a little confused and doesn't "know" what's coming next. It has certainly worked for me when I'm out on the roads, so I decided it couldn't hurt when I'm in on the...ivories (well, plastics).